Szmyd Dominika

Gimnazjum

Gimnazjum is a three year long school between elementary school and high school in the polish educational system. This school was created in 1998. At that time, I was eleven years old and I was still studying in elementary school, but I already knew that I would have to experience going to gimnazjum. Even though my class wasn’t the first one which was put in this new system, I felt a little bit like a guinea pig. During the time I spent in the gimnazjum, my class got a lot of surveys checking how we liked the new school. The new system caused many changes in other student’s and my life. Some students had to change the location of school. Fortunately, I was lucky because I had elementary school and gimnazjum in the same building, so I didn’t have to move anywhere. This new school changed my life. It brought much more work to do, a lot of exams to write and less time in high school.

One thing that I noticed from the beginning was that I had a lot of work. I was thirteen years old, and I studied almost as hard as my brother in high school. At the beginning, I didn’t keep up with things we were doing. Gimnazjum required to cover more material than elementary school did. For the Polish language class, we had to read many more books than students who didn’t have to go to gimnazjum. I remembered that part of my life as a constant stress and race with other students. I always had to prove something to my parents or to my teachers. Sometimes, I had to do things I didn’t want to do. I remember the time when my class was preparing to perform a play, and my teacher wanted me to be the main character. Actually she didn’t ask me but she gave me the text and said that I have to memorized it. Because I didn’t want to do it, I refused to take the role. The teacher got mad and, she gave me an F for my behaviour. This is only one story when I was treated unfairly. I can say honestly that these three years were the worst years of my life. I experienced all kinds of unfair treatment. During the time I spent in gimnazjum, I got in trouble many times. The reason was that I am a really honest and truthful person. If I saw that something was wrong, I always said it out loud. Unfortunately not every teacher liked it. It’s really hard to say for me but, some teachers in Poland didn’t treat all students equally. Many teachers in my gimnazjum were subjective. This is another reason I got in trouble easily. All I expected from teachers was to judge other students and me honestly, but for some reason they didn’t do that. I truly hated all teachers until I met a couple in the U.S.A. whom I really like and admire.

We had a lot exams which mostly covered large sections of material. However, the worst exam in gimnazjum was at the end of school. Every single student had to write an exit exam to get into high school. It wouldn’t be anything strange except for the fact that this exam determined whether we would get into high school or not. I was really scared because it was my first serious exam. Technically, this exam is called the Gimnazjum Exit Exam, but it contains four exams in four subject areas. The problem was that these exams weren’t actually checking student knowledge but their intelligence and the ability to think and solve problems. I didn’t know what to expect or how to prepare for it. Before we got the exam, everyone had to chose the high school he or she wanted to attend. I chose two high shools.The first one I chose was the place where my friend wanted to go, so we decided we would go there together. The second school was where my brother was studying, and I chose it just in case the first choice wouldn’t work out. Every high school in Poland has it’s own accurate score students need to gain to attend that particular school. Unfortunately I got nine points less than first high school required, so I had to go to school where I didn’t want to go.

All these changes were made just to have one year less in high school. Before this change was instituted, all students had eight years of elementary school and four years of high school. The purpose of creating this new type of school was better preperation for the high school exit exam called Matura. We had to cover much more material in gimnazjum than students in the old educational system. The Ministers in Polish government thought that it would be better for students to start working hard and make up serious decisions as soon as possible. The exit exam in gimnazjum is really similar or even almost the same as the Matura. Both of them are serious and hard to pass. I am sure that by going to gimnazjum I put my life on a different track from students older than me who avoided going to gimnazjum.

I don’t have to look far to find someone who had an easier life by following the old educational system. My brother is four years older than me, and I never saw him studying so hard in high school as I did in gimanzjum. I think that creating this new type of school was the worst decision Polish government has ever made. Everything worked fine as it was before. A fourteen year old student is too young to make up serious decisions and take responsibility for them. Even though it wasn’t the first stupid decision made by Polish government, I am sure it won’t be the last one.